Wolf in Sheepskin
by sylph-feather
Summary: Shinichi comes back, but Conan is still there.


Shinichi comes back into Ran's life easily, oddly enough. He has no explanation asides from mumbles of witness protection program to explain his disappearance, and this of course angers her— but of course, she gets over it. She always does with him; he may be an irritating detective, but he is _her _irritating detective.

They are two halves of the same melon, two peas of the same pod.

_Shinichi and Ran, _of course they'd be together; them _not _being so was just some fluke. No wonder Shinichi doesn't want to talk about it.

It takes longer for Conan to get over his disappearance.

xXx

Shinichi steps out of the shadows of an alley. He is so perfect it makes Ran think it is a dream; hair slicked just-so, fingernails almost shiny, skin porcelain, eyes that glittering blue.

"Hello, Ran," is what he greets her with as the shadows uncoil around him.

Ran stands there as a breeze flits between them; to her, it is warm, but to the child at her side it does not carry the romantic air— rather, it seems cold. The way Conan freezes brings Ran out of her dreamlike reverie of heart-tug between her and that grinning detective.

"Shinichi!" she barks, overjoyed, rushing into his arms.

He laughs, smile wide, hugging her back just-right.

"Hello, Ran," he says simply, blue eyes pooling into hers.

Another pair of blue eyes watches in terror.

xXx

To say Conan grills Shinichi the minute they arrive at the Kudo household is an understatement.

Things like _when did you leave? How did you meet Ran-neechan? _

They get more and more specific; questions even Shinichi seems surprised that Conan knows— _what did you do when your parents left home for two weeks? What did your first fan-letter say? _

By the end of the torrent of questions, Conan is breathing hard.

"Where'd all the questions come from, kid?" Shinichi laughs at the flood.

"I'm just curious!" he chirps worriedly.

Shinichi gives an easy shrug— then answers them all in equally rapid succession.

With each answer, Conan looks more and more confused.

xXx

"Goodnight," Ran says, still in the phase of _he's back he's back_, too elated to fight about vagueness yet. Shinichi gives a wave from the mansion, and she says with a crack in her voice, "you better be here in the morning."

Shinichi frowns arrogantly, leaning over Conan. "Of course I will," he chirps. His hand rubs at Conan's hair— "this little guy, too."

Conan half indignantly swats at it. Somehow, Ran feels like he wears a mask.

She stands outside of the Kudo mansion, breathes in the night air for a moment— and hears voices behind the door.

"How are you here?" Conan hisses.

She can hear the frown in Shinichi's response— "what do you mean?"

"You _can't _be real," the kid insists, frustration and fear edging into his voice.

"Whoa, whoa," Shinichi says, and at this point Ran presses herself to the door. "Somebody just needs some sleep, I think," he soothes.

"Alright," Conan says, pathetically scared sounding, and Ran shuffles away.

_Little kids and their weird nightmares. _

xXx

"Where's Conan?" Shinichi bursts in the Mouri household in the morning.

Her father startles awake from snoozing at the desk, and barks a quick "detective brat!" before rambling a rant.

"He's not here," Ran says under her father's yells.

Shinichi looks around hard-set, and leaves.

Ran follows. Such is routine with them; normalcy.

xXx

_Is the way Shinichi chases Conan like a wolf a rabbit normal? _she finds herself asking as she trails behind. She cannot answer.

Shinichi looks all sharp edged. _Is it out of fear for his younger cousin? _

She settles on that as the explanation.

xXx

They find him at Agasa's when they burst in, huddled together with the old man and his little strawberry-blonde friend.

They all seem nervous when Shinichi bursts in, scoops Conan up— most of all the limp and panicked Conan.

"He was just here," Shinichi breathes in exhale, relief. The wolf returns, though, baring its fangs and snapping as Shinichi barks, "don't run off like that!" to Conan.

Conan's gaze noticeably skips frantically towards Haibara and the professor. "Yes, Shinichi-niichan," he says, curling and making himself scarce.

Shinichi hugs him again, and Conan looks like he may cry— from the scolding, from relief? Ran's not sure, but she smiles at the pair anyways.

xXx

After the first fight, with an insisting Ran begging Shinichi to just _leave some things to the police _that escalated into a huge blow up of all her pent up bitterness, she shuts Shinichi out of her life.

"A break," they call it. Not a second after, Conan begins to drop hints that it should be more.

At first, it's subtle snark— "Shinichi-niichan would've made fun of you for that," kind of thing. Ran doesn't notice this much.

She _does _take note when Conan escalates into gossiping territory, murmuring about Shinichi's supposed propensity towards other women, his distracted gaze at not just her but _everyone. _"I think he was with someone else when he was away," Conan's childish voice chimes— "sometimes when I called him I heard a lady's voice."

"Don't be so rude, Conan!" she scolds, trying to hide that he's hitting her exact fears— those sharp little blue eyes seem to know it anyways, though perhaps that's her imagination. She always comes up with feasible excuses with the tagline, "Shinichi would never do that." She speculates on waitresses Conan heard, background chatter, on more and more as he gives her more and more.

It's the next step of blunt admittance that gets Ran. "I don't think you should be with 'nii-chan," Conan brings up one day out of the blue.

Ran whirls on him, tone harsh— "were you trying to split us apart, was that what all that was?" Conan blanches, stammers, and that's tell enough. "Why are you being so rude and mean to both of us?" Ran asks in a childish manner to make Conan understand her genuine hurt.

Conan stares at the tears that prick her eyes, and does another bout of wild gestures and kiddy "ah-ah-ah"s of unsureness. Partway through, he cuts himself off, and in a suddenly mature voice with a hardened expression says, "screw it."

Ran straightens up. "_What—?" _

"I am Shinichi," Conan says bluntly.

Ran thinks of her paranoid assumptions from earlier that he is undoubtedly drawing from and laughs in his face. "Nice try Conan," she grouses, bitterness leaking into her voice.

"It's true!" he barks. "I don't know how _he _knows all he knows, but he isn't me!" He pauses. "And I know I don't _look_ like me and I know the hiding needs an explanation, but it is—"

Before he gets the "me" out, Ran slams a fist down on her bed, startling Conan into submission. "Sorry," she gruffs— she _does_ feel bad about scaring this weirdly desperate and imaginative kid, but she needed to let some frustration out before being able to handle him. "Conan," she begins gently, and Conan's face falls as though he knows what will come next. She steamrolls his open mouth to begin denials, saying, "you're a very bright and imaginative young boy, and you remind me very much of Shinichi. I'm sure being related to him, being a detective, and looking similar means you ger compared to him a lot. But Conan, you're not him."

"But that's not—" he hisses.

"Can you prove it?" she cuts him off, thinking of Shinichi's quests for proof of all things before condemning them— might as well let little Conan disprove himself and end the dilemma.

Unexpectedly, his face sharpens into a grin— a smile that suddenly makes Shinichi's grin since he's been back seem _too sharp. _"Compare my fingerprints," he says haughtily.

Ran knows this is just another step to the imaginative scenario Conan is at least somewhat self convinced of, and placates him with a "we'll go tomorrow."

xXx

Shinichi is at the station. Ran stares as Conan halts abruptly before murmuring, "actually we can come back later," and attempting to whip away.

She picks him up by his collar as he is walking, hauls him over abruptly to one of the policemen, and says, "we do this now."

"Yo, Conan!" Shinichi barks winningly, then glances at her and awkwardly says, "hey Ran," in a gentle soft tone that makes Ran's bitterness drain a little.

Conan squirms, fear written clear on his face as she waves back.

"You would not believe what Conan here has said," Ran says, and Conan goes still. He turns his head, looking at her with owlish pleading eyes. "He thinks he's _you," _she guffaws.

Shinichi frowns. "Has he been taking his medicine?"

She swears Conan stops breathing in her arms as he pieces that sentence together. "Medicine?" she asks.

Shinichi looks about, grows closer and darts his head up again. "He's delusional," he whispers secretively— "paranoid," he specifies. "Has he said anything about people being replaced, or fake, on top of thinking he's someone else?"

Ran gapes like a fish. _Paranoia? _All she can do is nod.

"Oh, this is bad," Shinichi says, guiding her out. She can feel Conan hyperventilating in her arms as Shinichi lifts him out, but all she feels is dull shock at the realization.

"Th-the fingerprint test will prove I'm right," Conan insists, struggling renewed. "Just let me—"

Shinichi yanks him back. "Have you been seeing the people in black again, too, Conan?" Conan doesn't answer, but Shinichi clearly takes it as a _yes, _because he concernedly sighs and asks, "how often?"

Conan shakes his head. "The test— _I'm _the real one, and you're one of _them," _he mutters, rambling.

"Ran, we need to get him to a doctor's. He's in the middle of a delusion, and he needs somewhere safe and controlled—"

"I need somewhere to prove it!" Conan cuts in angrily.

"Don't encourage his— _agh!" _Shinichi yelps, ans Conan hits the ground running, darting into a crowd and immediately losing himself. Shinichi shakes his bleeding hand with an amazed, "he bit me! Right in the wrist, too!"

The pair give chase, but… Ran knows. Conan is good at hiding, and small to boot. Suddenly his tendencies of making himself unknown in the face of this realization.

Ran and Shinichi search.

xXx

After a whole desperate day of searching, Ran and Shinichi go to Agasa's.

"Have you seen Conan?" Shinichi asks, knowing that Conan considered this his safe place.

Agasa fidgets nervously. "Is he gone? I have not," he answers, sweating.

Shinichi frowns at him. "Let us know if you find him."

"Sure thing," Agasa pauses, gulps out, "Kudo-kun," as though the name tastes tainted.

xXx

A day later, Agasa calls. "Conan's parents picked him up," he explains. "They're a bit ditzy and forgetful."

"When will he be back?" Ran asks, trying to keep desperation out. Despite the shock of the goodbye, she doesn't want that just to sit for a long time before seeing him again.

What Agasa says is worse— "never, I think." Gentler, he says, "he's gone home now."

Ran cries a lot. Shinichi holds her.

xXx

In the beginning, Conan calls her a lot— each time from a different number, signal bouncing confusingly. He says they travel a lot.

Sometimes in the back, Ran hears a girlish voice insisting he hang up because they're out of safe time— _payphone, _Conan explains. One time, Conan accidentally does not hang up, and Ran catches the girl's voice again. She says something that sounds a lot like _Kudo-kun, _but Ran blames her active paranoia and assumes it's similar enough to _Conan. _"Let her go," the voice insists harshly, "for her safety and yours. I know I keep telling you this—"

"I will," Conan's mature-voice cuts in, and it sounds tearful.

The phone clicks off.

Conan's calls lessen more and more after that. Within a handful of months, he simply doesn't call at all.

Ran can't help but worry at the insistence of _safety, _but perhaps this was related to Conan's illnesses; perhaps that is why he is so vague— Ran pictures a kind nurse or therapist, trying to get a fixated child to move on with his life, and feels better.

She moves on with her own, things oddly settled into normalcy with Shinichi. Back again, like he never left.

_Sort of. _

There's things about Shinichi that are eerily different. Sometimes he grins too sharp, laughs to harshly. Sometimes in the pursuit of a criminal, he becomes far more predatory; Shinichi had always kept faith in humanity, but now it seems to have dimmed and he became more ruthless along the line. Shinichi suffers odd lapses in certain memories, only able to remember the shallowest details of the scenario. Shinichi sometimes disappears for a time, still, and doesn't tell her where he goes. He has a lot of _detective business _that even the police don't seem to know about (or keep mum; Ran is unsure).

Shinichi is different.

Shinichi is the same.

xXx

They maintain amicability, and she wonders about the dark stains under his finger tips that he sometimes returns from "detective business" on and wonders on the smoky powder she sees coat him sometimes and wonders why he wears so much black— and all this _wondering _over such trifling but somehow huge details keeps her from marrying him. They drift, but remain rather close; _Shinichi-and-Ran _is what is right with the universe.

Sometimes Ran still sees a young-faced Shinichi in passing crowds, though, and wonders more.

xXx

**im losing my mind from the very nice but confused reviews So here is an edit: yall conan is shinichi and is not ACTUALLY delusional, "shinichi" is an imposter. this is all from rans perspective. **


End file.
